Dueling Op-Eds from Rick & Kay

Okay, not exactly dueling, but they are both out there over the past couple of days.

Rick, on his decision not to take all of the stimulus money (link):

During these tough economic times, Texas employers are working harder than ever to move products to market, make payroll and create jobs. The last thing they need right now is government burdening them with higher taxes and expanded obligations.

That is exactly what the Unemployment Insurance stipulations in the new federal stimulus bill will do, ultimately increasing the burden borne by Texas employers and directly impacting the people they hire (and those they won’t be able to hire as a result).

On Thursday afternoon, after thoughtful and thorough review of the federal stimulus legislation, I stood up for Texas employers and the millions of Texans they employ to express my resistance toward further government intrusion into their lives by opposing the federal government’s push to expand our state’s unemployment insurance program.

Kay, on the trillion dollar price tag of the stimulus (link):

When Congress was presented with a massive spending bill as the first major piece of legislation under the new administration, many lawmakers, myself included, balked at the trillion-dollar price tag.

As massive as the stimulus legislation was, it was merely the preamble to a series of proposed big government tax-and-spend initiatives.

It is the largest budget in the history of our nation, a proposal that will raise taxes and swell the national debt, and an omnibus appropriations bill that will, for the first time in our nation’s history, spend more than $1 trillion for annual appropriations.

"I am the true fiscal conservative! No, I am!"

As a fiscal conservative myself, I welcome the competition.